Proverbs 13:23
Much food is in the tillage of the poor:
But there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.
This proverb, whose style can leave us perplexed, teaches us one of the cardinal dynamics of finances. Though seemingly different than Proverbs 13:22, its text reaches out to the same conclusions.
Someone told me once that days are like suitcases. Each day has the same amount of hours, but some can put more in it than others. It is the same with finances. When I was doing social world in India, people in Europe would send us support. Not having much money, we had to make do with what we had, so we used to tell our sponsors that we can ‘squeeze’ the dollar till the eagle screamed.
I presently run a gleaning ministry. I collect close-dated and non-shelveable food items from a big grocery store as well as from a meat company, and distribute them to low-income families. There is nothing wrong with these products except that maybe their shelf life is short, or that their box is slightly damaged. The sad part is that if I wouldn’t take these items, they would be tossed in the garbage. According to the dynamics of industrial marketing, it takes more time and money to sort though, in someway use and remarket these things than it does to throw them away.
The poor, because he has to make do with what he has, is more saving and resourceful. He is also less picky; therefore whatever he has seems to yield much more than the rich who is more wasteful. The rich on the other hand, destroys what is still good because of his lack of judgment, justice and appreciation. In the end, like in the parable of the talents, the Messiah will judge us, not by the amount we have, but by our faithfulness towards what had been given us. Some people also are poor because even though poor, they have a ‘champagne’ taste and behavior towards material things that cannot be supported on a ‘beer budget’. Ever though poor, they are wasteful and picky.
Another way to read this statement is: While the (industrious and God-fearing) poor man is richly nourished from the piece of ground which he cultivates, many a one who has incomparably more than he, comes by his unrighteousness down to a beggarly state, or even lower.
Let us not be guilty of waste because of a lack of judgment towards what the Almighty gives us in His goodness.
Much food is in the tillage of the poor:
But there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.
This proverb, whose style can leave us perplexed, teaches us one of the cardinal dynamics of finances. Though seemingly different than Proverbs 13:22, its text reaches out to the same conclusions.
Someone told me once that days are like suitcases. Each day has the same amount of hours, but some can put more in it than others. It is the same with finances. When I was doing social world in India, people in Europe would send us support. Not having much money, we had to make do with what we had, so we used to tell our sponsors that we can ‘squeeze’ the dollar till the eagle screamed.
I presently run a gleaning ministry. I collect close-dated and non-shelveable food items from a big grocery store as well as from a meat company, and distribute them to low-income families. There is nothing wrong with these products except that maybe their shelf life is short, or that their box is slightly damaged. The sad part is that if I wouldn’t take these items, they would be tossed in the garbage. According to the dynamics of industrial marketing, it takes more time and money to sort though, in someway use and remarket these things than it does to throw them away.
The poor, because he has to make do with what he has, is more saving and resourceful. He is also less picky; therefore whatever he has seems to yield much more than the rich who is more wasteful. The rich on the other hand, destroys what is still good because of his lack of judgment, justice and appreciation. In the end, like in the parable of the talents, the Messiah will judge us, not by the amount we have, but by our faithfulness towards what had been given us. Some people also are poor because even though poor, they have a ‘champagne’ taste and behavior towards material things that cannot be supported on a ‘beer budget’. Ever though poor, they are wasteful and picky.
Another way to read this statement is: While the (industrious and God-fearing) poor man is richly nourished from the piece of ground which he cultivates, many a one who has incomparably more than he, comes by his unrighteousness down to a beggarly state, or even lower.
Let us not be guilty of waste because of a lack of judgment towards what the Almighty gives us in His goodness.
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